Eat, stay and play at the 7 best luxury hotels with fine dining
You needn’t leave your accommodation with these exceptional restaurants worth staying in for.
In terms of an indulgent holiday, it doesn’t get much better than enjoying a five-star dining experience without needing to leave the premises of your hotel. Who doesn’t want to go from a degustation paired with wine to a nightcap within proximity to your plush bed? Whether you’re seeking a fine-dining staycation in your home city or want to venture a little further afield, Australia has plenty of options to hit the night away jackpot.
Crown Sydney, NSW
Dine: There are a slew of add-them-to-your-wishlist-immediately restaurants within the gleaming, conically shaped Crown Sydney. This includes Nobu and A’Mare, but top of the list, and indeed almost top of the 275-metre-high building, is Oncore by Clare Smyth. It’s the latest outpost for the Northern Ireland born, London based three-Michelin-starred chef. Fine dining at its most creative, each dish on Smyth’s tasting menu (executed by the restaurant‘s head chef, who worked with Smyth at her London restaurant Core, as well alongside her at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay) is a taste sensation. The menu (a three-course a la-carte and seven-course tasting) includes some of Smyth’s signatures: the Potato and Roe and Beef and Oyster. The views of the Harbour, and the ‘Core-teaser’, Smyth’s take on the famous Malteser chocolate, are cherries on top.
Stay: Crown Sydney is billed as Australia’s first ‘six star’ hotel for good reason — it’s a knockout. There are 349 rooms (including 22 villas), all suitably plush, with deep tubs and Harbour and city views. The conversation pieces are of course the supremely photogenic infinity pool on level three, complete with day beds and private cabanas, as well as the bespoke chandelier that hangs above the curved stairwell in the hotel lobby. Definitely book yourself in for a La Prairie facial at the luxe Blainey North-designed spa.
Ovolo Nishi, ACT
Dine: Ovolo Nishi, smack bang in Canberra’s buzzing NewActon cultural precinct, is super cool. The food at Monster Kitchen is too. For one, the menu is now entirely meat-free and therefore has to get creative. Opportunities for truly imaginative vegetarian can be rather light on so make the most of dishes such as edamame flan, broad beans, edamame shiitake broth and salt baked kohlrabi and purple cauliflower steak, AKA miso, mushroom medley and burnt onion jus.
Stay: The first thing you notice is the grand staircase festooned with strips of irregular sized (recycled) timber and the hotel’s atrium with ferns salvaged from Tasmania. Elsewhere the hotel is dark and sexy with a retro-ish fit-out. Some of the rooms are fitted with a tub for two and double rain shower. Housed within the hotel complex is a Palace cinema and prosecco bar, and there’s plenty to explore (and eat) in the NewActon precinct to round out an ideal romantic getaway.
COMO The Treasury, WA
Dine: Wildflower, located on the rooftop of the COMO The Treasury and with views of the city and the Swan River, honours the six seasons of Western Australia’s Noongar people with each dish. With a focus on seasonal and foraged produce, on the six-course, four-course or ‘flow’ menu might be dishes such as cured line-caught snapper with finger lime, ginger and Geraldton wax or South West Lamb with eucalyptus, peas and courgette.
Stay: Once the home of a land titles office and a post office The 48-room COMO The Treasury has shaken off any traces of paper pushing civil service. Instead the historic building is now a seriously smart hotel with city views and the opportunity to have a revitalising facial in the old vault. Don’t miss the swimming pool on the top floor which has floor to ceiling windows.
Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley, NSW
Dine: Nestled amid the bushland and kangaroos between the Wollemi and Gardens of Stone national parks in the Blue Mountains, Emirates One&Only Wolgan Valley is a uniquely Australian luxury experience. The addition of a menu designed by Brent Savage (the chef behind some of Sydney’s top restaurants including Bentley Restaurant & Bar, Monopole and more) in 2021 only adds to the experience. Wolgan by Bentley spotlights seasonal and sustainable produce with highlight dishes including maremma quail, white turnip, golden currants and capers and aged Tathra duck, purple carrot and blackberries.
Stay: Surrounded by 7000 acres of wilderness, the 40-villa property may be a three-hour drive from Sydney but you’re almost certain to feel you’ve been whisked miles away. Each villa (including two and three-bedroom suites), elegantly crafted in wood and stone and well-stocked with books and snacks, has a private pool. Meanwhile the property, billed as Australia’s first conservation-based hotel, has a world-class spa, tennis courts, a steam room and horse stables with riding tours for all levels and more. Other popular activities include wildlife tours where you can get up close and personal with the locals, such as kangaroos, wallabies and perhaps even a platypus. Meals and two on-site activities are included in the tariff.
Jackalope, VIC
Dine: Located in the Morning Peninsula, a little over an hour’s drive from Melbourne, Jackalope up-ends stereotypes of a cosy country retreat with its sleek design and contemporary art focus. The food and drink stands out too, and especially so at Doot Doot Doot, the hotel’s one-hatted fine dining restaurant. Executive chef Simon Tarlington’s tasting menu honours the produce from the region in cool and creative ways with dishes such as dry aged duck, miso glazed eggplant, stone fruits and Xo Morton Bay bug, truffle scented zucchinis, broad beans.
Stay: Owner Louis Li, alongside the Carr Design Group, has created a surreal and unforgettable luxury hotel experience amid the rolling vineyards. The views from The Vineyard rooms and two ‘Lair’ suites are spectacular and the 30-metre infinity pool and hot tub not to be missed. But it is the ‘alchemy’ of art (you can’t miss Emily Floyd’s 7-metre sculpture of the mythical jackalope, part jack rabbit, part antelope on the driveway for a start and the hotel’s collection also includes pieces from the likes of Tracey Emin and Random International), design touches and culinary experiences that lingers.
Saffire Freycinet, TAS
Dine: With its white sand beaches (albeit the water is very cold) and untouched bushland, Freycinet on Tasmania’s East Coast is truly spectacular. Saffire Freycinet, makes the most of the scenery, as well as the produce Tasmania is known for, from crayfish to oysters, cheese and exceptional pinot noir. Executive Chef Paddy Prenter’s degustation menus at the hotel’s restaurant Palate change daily depending on the produce available and, matched with local wines, may include dishes such as West Coast octopus, house made XO sauce, cashew nut, kohlrabi or 21 day dry-aged Wild Clover lamb loin, kale sauce, spring asparagus, garlic crisp anchovy cracker.
Stay: The theme of taking in the spoils of nature continues beyond the tastebuds at Saffire. The stingray-inspired design of the main lodge is striking, and 20 individual suites and villas, all of them with sweeping views, are nestled nearby. Each room, appointed in Tasmania timbers, has a deep bathtub, while the Private Pavilions have a plunge pool in the courtyard. Meals are included in the tariff and the service is constantly decreed as thoughtful and entirely first rate.
Lake House, VIC
Dine: Culinary director and owner Alla Wolf-Tasker was ahead of her time in viewing hyper local, seasonal produce as an ultimate luxury and the Lake House restaurant, built on this philosophy, has become something of an icon of regional cuisine since it was first opened some 30 years ago. The restaurant remains the biggest drawcard, with some of the produce coming from Wolf-Tasker’s farm, Dairy Flat Farm Daylesford, 10 minutes down the road from Lake House, and other local suppliers. The menu changes twice a year; be sure to have an aperitif or nightcap at the Argyle Library Bar or Lagoon Deck.
Stay: While the restaurant may be the draw card, the lovely accommodations, nestled along the shores of Lake Daylesford and set amid rambling gardens make for a delightful way to revive the spirits. Each room is beautifully appointed in decor that nods to the country setting but keeps things sharp and you might like a hit of tennis, followed by refreshments in the bar, a trip to the spa or a dip in the pool before, once again, utterly spoiling your tastebuds.